


La Push

by petersnotkingyet



Series: Family Ties [4]
Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Big Brother Jasper, Brothers, Bullying, Description of Injuries, Discussion of Violence, Foster Care, Gen, Little Brother Emmett, Past Child Abuse, Past Child Neglect, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 16:53:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11925150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petersnotkingyet/pseuds/petersnotkingyet
Summary: Jasper and Emmett talk about The La Push Incident mentioned in The American Pasttime.Jasper is 15 and Emmett is 12.





	La Push

“Jasper?” Emmett said shyly. 

“Yeah, buddy?” Jasper responded, examining Emmett carefully.  He’d strained so hard against the boys holding him under that a blood vessel in his eye had broken.  According to Carlisle, the technical term was a subconjunctival hemorrhage and it was harmless.  Jasper didn’t like the look of it though.  Every time he saw Emmett’s bloody eye or the bruises on his arms and his neck, he couldn’t help thinking that he should have gotten there faster.  Should have noticed Emmett was gone sooner, should have heard the boys laughing, should have ran faster, should have gotten them off of Emmett faster.

“How’d you get good at fighting like that?” Emmett asked.  He’d had salt water in his eyes, and he’d missed a lot of the fight by the time Edward had wiped his eyes with a dry tee shirt.

“I got hit a lot in foster care,” Jasper said.  “I learned to defend myself then, but I didn’t really get good at fighting until I was older and needed to protect the younger kids.”

“You protected them?” Emmett said.  Jasper nodded.  “Like you did for me?”

“Yeah,” Jasper said.  “I shouldn’t have hurt that boy so bad, though.  I just….”

“It’s hard to make good decisions when you’re afraid,” Emmett said.  The phrasing didn’t sound like his usual speech.  Jasper could tell that was something Carlisle had told his youngest.  “You were scared they were going to kill me.  I shoulda told somebody that those were the boys who beat me up at school.”  He paused thoughtfully, then amended, “I should have told somebody I was getting beat up at school.”

“Yeah,” Jasper agreed.

“I get confused about that stuff,” Emmett said.  “That’s why I go to Dr. Claire.”

“And she helps you figure it out?”  Jasper asked.  Emmett nodded.

“It was different when I lived with my mom and my brothers,” he said.  “I wasn’t supposed to bug them with the stuff Mama and Papa think is important.  It’s different now, but…”

“But it’s hard to adjust,” Jasper finished.

“Yeah.  Back then it was like all my feelings stopped as soon as I walked in the door at home,” Emmett said.  “Then I came here, and I had not-as-many-as-most-people feelings and most of them were scared.  Now I have a lot of feelings all the time.”

“I think I’m still in the not-as-many feelings stage,” Jasper said.  Emmett’s brows pulled together.  The seriousness looked out of place on his soft face.  Jasper could tell Emmett wanted to hug him, but the twelve year old restrained himself considerately.

“This is the best family,” Emmett said.  “You just haven’t had time to get used to it yet.  I wasn’t either at first.  I didn’t want anyone to touch me, and I tried to hide out in the garage all the time because I didn’t really get that my room was _my_ room.  But I got used to it, and…. Nobody ever used to hug me, you know?  I like it here.”

“You’re a really good brother, Emmett,” Jasper said.  Emmett’s face flushed, and he grinned unabashedly.

“Really?”

“Well, I’m not going to make it up,” Jasper said, and Emmett laughed.

“You’re a good brother too,” he said.  “You’re going to stay forever, right?”

“As long as I can,” Jasper promised.

“Mama and Papa would never make you go,” Emmett said.  “And Chief Swan said you’re not in trouble for hurting Kyle because Kyle was hurting me.”

“Well, then I can’t think of any reason I’d have to go,” Jasper said, and Emmett grinned again.  It was hard for Jasper to imagine Emmett emotionally cut off like he said he had been.

“I’m going to go play Wii with Alice,” Emmett said.  “Do you want to come?”

“No thanks,” Jasper said.  “I think I want to read a while longer.”

“Okay,” Emmett said as he stood.

“Hey, Em?” Jasper said just before his youngest brother left the room.  Emmett turned back to him.  Even bloody, his eyes were patient and kind and happy.  “Can I have a hug?”

Emmett grinned, and he catapulted back across the room into Jasper.  Jasper was ready for him, though.  He wrapped his arms around the younger boy’s shoulders while Emmett latched onto him.

“Do you want to come to Dr. Claire with me next week?” Emmett offered unexpectedly, face still buried in Jasper’s tee shirt.  “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“Uh…” Jasper said, caught off guard.  “Maybe.  Can I think about it?”

“Yeah,” Emmett said, climbing off the couch a second time.  “I love you.”

Jasper smiled.  Emmett had been the first of the Cullens to tell him they loved him.  The others had been too worried—too self-conscious—about making him uncomfortable.  They wanted to give him space, which Jasper appreciated, but he also appreciated that Emmett didn’t treat him any different than he did the others.  With Emmett, there’d never been the same expectation to respond.  He said ‘I love you’ reflexively, like he couldn’t stand not to tell you, but half the time he was off to do something else before anyone could respond.  There was no pressure to reciprocate, but Jasper had found very quickly that he did.

“I love you too, buddy.”


End file.
